


Looks like you could use some help.

by gwmclintock88



Series: Across the Whedonverse [13]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Whedonverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-12 02:48:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4462601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwmclintock88/pseuds/gwmclintock88
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy has had it up to here (some vague point above her head) with Steve and Jane causing too many shenanigans. How was one person supposed to keep them out of trouble?</p><p>Follow up to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/4450589">France. 1944. Fought a tank with an empty pistol.</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	Looks like you could use some help.

**Author's Note:**

> Given that the comments indicated desire for a sequel, I felt like I could oblige. 
> 
> If this is the first one you are reading, please go back and read [France. 1944. Fought a tank with an empty pistol.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4450589) first, as that is what prompted this story. You don't have to, I mean, you're not a monkey and you totally have free will, so whatever. It's not like I have subpoena power. 
> 
> Again, wibbly-wobbly with the time frame, but I hope this is what you all wanted. Let me know what you think.

            “No.”

            “But –“

            “No.”

            “Darcy, please, you’re being unreasonable.”

            “What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?”

            “This is an important scientific breakthrough –“

            “That can wait. And don’t you say a damn word, Captain.” She pointed at the man sitting on at one of the lab tables. He just smiled, and damn him looking so good, and damn Jane for bagging him. She almost caved in.

            Almost.

            “But if we can manage to figure out how to integrate –“

            “English, please.” Darcy rubbed her temple, feeling a headache inbound.

            It had been nearly forty-eight hours since the start of this science binge. Jane’s soulmark, Captain bloody America himself, only encouraged it. He may not have understood the SCIENCE going on (neither did she), but he either just sat there as she went off on a science bender or helped her with the equipment. Frankly, Steve was the best thing to happen to both of them since it made Darcy nearly obsolete, except for the whole telling them both they were idiots for trying crazy things.

            Like right now, Jane wanted to open a fricking wormhole in the middle of the lab.

            “It’s a tiny one.” Jane tried the puppy dog eyes, again.

            “I think we can handle it,” Steve said.

            “That’s what you said about the last Bifrost experiment, and look what happened then!” Darcy crossed her arms and glared at them both.

            Jane couldn’t meet her eyes and instead found something interesting on the floor. “It was only one frost giant.”

            “And nearly half the floor was wrecked before you got it under control.”

            “It would have been worse if the Hulk was around,” Steve said, drawing Darcy’s attention onto him.

            “Or when you here decided you’d try to jump from that plane without a parachute? Again.”

            “I landed okay.” Steve didn’t even look apologetic.

            “Only because you hit that AIM robot!”

            “It was what I was aiming for.”  Steve shrugged his shoulders and just gave her a smile. Jane giggled, and really, it was a good smile.

            “No, no, you don’t get out of this by looking all-American like that,” Darcy said, shaking her finger at him. She heard the door open behind her and someone stopped several feet away. “And you’re not helping either.”

            “Me?”

            “Yes, you,” Darcy pointed at Jane, glaring at her. “You helped him with that.”

            “Only so much as how to break into the robot,” Jane said.

            Darcy let out a grunt of frustration. She turned back to whoever had just entered. “See what I have to deal with?”

            There was a sharp intake of breath behind her, and both Steve and Jane stared at the man. Darcy stopped herself from continuing her epic tirade of epic anger at the Dynamic Duo to take a better look at the man she just spoke to. He was good looking, dark, mysterious, but kind of hipstery. Maybe a quick haircut to get rid of that but the stubble could stay. He made a dark leather jacket look good, but he wore a glove over her left hand, which surprisingly made him look hotter. “Looks like you could use some help.”

            “Yeah, definitely,” she said, turning back to glare at both of her friends. “Think you can take the big one?”

            “I used to,” the man said, walking closer to her side. “In fact, I remember when it was a lot easier to pull his hide from the fire.”

            “Jealous?” Steve asked.  Normally, Jane would return to her work, but this time her head swiveled between looking at tall, dark, and handsome, and her blond and built.

            “You knew him?” Darcy turned toward mysterious dude, getting a charm smile of her own.

            “Yeah,” he said. “We grew up together.”

            Darcy turned to look at Steve again. He had gotten up from his spot across the room and walked toward them. His fingers tightly held the sketch book in his hands, but he didn’t look upset or angry or anything. “I thought all your friends were dead?”

            “They were, until they weren’t,” Steve said. “Darcy Lewis, meet Bucky Barnes.”

            “Wait, what?” Darcy turned to face the man completely. He held out his hand toward her, which she obligated before lifting it up to kiss the back of it. Darcy felt her cheeks heat as she stammered out a question. The name sounded familiar, and she really should know it. Maybe she’d have to pay attention more often to the briefings or read the reports that Steve gave Jane and her on Avengers stuff.

            “Show off,” Steve said.   

            “Not every day you meet your soulmark,” Bucky said without taking his eyes off her or letting go of her hands.

            Jane appeared with a bundle of papers tucked under one arm to tug Steve away. “Nope, and we’ll leave you to it.”

            “What?” Darcy leaned around Bucky to watch Jane and Steve leave them in the lab. “What just happened?”

            “You said my words, and I’m pretty sure I just said yours.” Bucky rubbed his thumb over her knuckles.

            “Yes, but wait, I said your words? But you’re…you!”

            “Surprisingly. Got Steve and Sam to thank for that,” Bucky said. “And here,” he leaned down, again, not releasing his gentle hold on her hand, to pull up his pant leg. “That your writing?”

            “Yeah,” Darcy said. She stared at it for a moment. She’d totally share his writing on her, just to check and everything, because that was what you were supposed to do. Once she got out of the lab, because Skynet was everywhere and there was no way anyone but her mark was seeing her goods. “But, you’re you!”

            “You just said that,” Bucky said, still smiling.

            “Sorry, it’s just, I expected to get some geek or nerd. I don’t pull them like you,” Darcy said, waving with her free hand over his entire body.

            “Why not? A girl looking like you can easily draw the eyes of any guy,” Bucky said. “Hell, I’m lucky that you’re not freaking out.”

            “Why? Because you’re hot?” Darcy asked.

            Bucky shook his head, and his smile changed to a sad one. She desperately wanted to make him happy again. That face should never look sad. “Because I’m the Winter Soldier.”

            “That’s okay,” Darcy said, trying to remember why that name might be important. “I’ve got enough warm clothes. Besides, I heard cuddling can help with cold.” His shoulders began to shake as his chuckle moved to a loud resonating laughter that kind of did wonderful things to her. She felt the vibrations rush through her, only making her feel the need to get him to her bedroom sooner.

            “Darcy,” he whispered her name like a prayer. “I…thank you.”

            “For what? We just met.”

            “For looking after Steve while I’ve been…recovering. For being his friend, and looking after his soulmate.”

            “She is my best friend,” Darcy said, earning another smile. She wondered what else could make him look at her like that.

            “Most importantly, thank you for giving me a chance,” he said. He leaned down, kissing her gently at first before that aggression she saw hidden in him came forward. She wrapped her arms around his neck, letting him pull her up and off the ground.

            “Whoa,” she said. He held her close, his arm easily lifting her against him. She wiggled a bit, her shirt riding up and letting his warmth from his arm seep into her back.

            “Whoa is good?”

            “Very. Very good.” She kissed him again, this time harder, and maybe she would have taken him right there because he certainly seemed willing, except for the loud ringing of her phone.

            “What?” she shouted into the phone once she managed to get control her breathing and kissing.

            “No sex in the lab and remember to use protection,” Jane said, parroting Darcy’s rules back to her before hanging up.

            Darcy let out a groan, dropping her head onto Bucky’s firm shoulder. Was there a part of him that wasn’t muscle? “Our friends suck.”

            “Well, yeah, if Steve wasn’t causing trouble, he telling me to be responsible,” Bucky said, chuckling again. She felt the laugh through his chest and into hers. “So…do you want to go someplace else and maybe talk?”

            “Among other things,” Darcy said, stealing another kiss. He let her down and took her left hand in his right. For the first time, she noticed his left arm remained by his side. She’d ask him about it, before they went too far. She vaguely recalled Steve telling her about Bucky, and she would have paid attention at the time, but there were more important things, like crushing Clint in Words with Friends. “But seriously, you’ll help with keeping them in line?”

            “I can try. He usually found trouble all on his own.”

            Darcy let out a sigh. “That’s what I was afraid of.”  She perked up after a moment of self-pity. “Still, I get a soulmate who could out flex New York’s firemen any month of the year. So I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.”

            Bucky smiled. “Not as nice as having a girl like you.”

            “You won’t be saying that if you see me in the morning,” Darcy said, half-warning, half-joking.

            “Let me be the judge of that.”

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing except the plot. Please let me know if there is any issues with characterization or voices. I tried to do the characters justice, but I am open to honest and fair criticism.
> 
> If you have a pairing you'd like read, please let me know. Anyone from anything by Whedon is fair game, so let me know.
> 
> Good night and good luck.


End file.
